2 ms·
Slowing down traffic can, in fact, increase the throughput of the road, especially when it is busy. This is for two reasons: 1) slower traffic requires a smal
by andyjpb 8y ago
Slowing down traffic can, in fact, increase the throughput of the road, especially when it is busy.
This is for two reasons:
1) slower traffic requires a smaller safety gap between each vehicle.
2) the dominating factor in traffic jams is often people responding to the brake-lights of the people in front of them. People over compensate and therefore a "braking bubble" (Soltion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soliton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soliton ) forms in the traffic which causes it to get even more spaced out.
Keeping traffic flowing is more important to throughput than keeping it flowing it fast. Constant braking and speeding up on a busy road means that the flow rate is constantly disrupted and this causes the traffic to tend towards clumping and congestion.
You're not "in traffic"; you "are traffic".
- lotsofpulp 8y agoIt's inevitable that people will over or under compensate, and differences in acceleration speeds of different vehicles means the rubber banding is inevitable, especially if you add any elevation climbs to the equation. Add in lane changes, merges, exits, and there's no situation where I would expect a slow and steady flow of traffic. Maximum throughput at a fast speed with minimal spacing between vehicles is more than maximum throughput at a slower speed with minimum spacing between vehicles. I see this in every urban area, people sacrifice safety for speed.